


Olympic Village

by perksofbeingademigodtribute



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Annabeth is a pentathlete, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Katie plays tennis, Luke is a creep, Not Beta Read, Percy is clueless, Percy is obviously a swimmer, Thalia and Zoe are beach volleyball stars, Thalia is a protective big sister, and she looks up to Luke who takes advantage of her
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perksofbeingademigodtribute/pseuds/perksofbeingademigodtribute
Summary: Annabeth Chase had decided that she was never dating another Olympian after Luke Castellan broke her heart.Or I really miss the Olympics since they were canceled this year. More characters will be added as the story progresses
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan/Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace/Zoë Nightshade
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. 2008 Beijing - Before the Games

Annabeth Chase had decided that she was never dating another Olympian after Luke Castellan broke her heart.

2008, Beijing

Seven years her senior, their relationship was a scandalous one, and therefore a secret one. Stolen glances across crowded stadiums during foreign anthems and late night meetings in the village when nobody was paying attention. She was only fifteen at her first games in Beijing, and she couldn’t believe that the 22-year-old gold medalist in the modern pentathlon took interest in her, another young pentathlete who was fresh on the scene. She was the youngest on the team by a long shot, and many people claimed that her presence was a publicity stunt to try to bring interest into the modern pentathlon, but Annabeth fought tooth and nail for her spot.

She loved that her area of expertise was actually not having one, as Luke had once mentioned to her, “A jack of all trades master of none is better than a master of one” was basically the calling card for pentathletes everywhere. That didn’t mean that Annabeth couldn’t pick which event was her favorite, however. She preferred the more skilled of the events, pistol shooting and fencing over the cross country running. She loved working with her horse, Alcippe, named after the courageous mare of Athena in greek mythology in the equestrian show jumping, but she absolutely hated the swimming portion of every event. She could hold her own, but she wasn’t as fast in water, and usually had to make up for lost points in the shooting and fencing portions to make up for it. She had originally hated the cross country running as well, but she and Luke had used training sessions as a ruse to get alone together.  
To the public he had seemed so amazing, the gold medalist going out of his way to help train a young prodigy to help keep the USA to sweep the pentathlon every year, and Annabeth had looked up to him as inspiration for years after seeing him compete at such a young age. He was 18 at his first games and won the gold medal despite being younger than his competitors, which made her determined to do the same, but even younger.

Their relationship had started out completely platonic, a teacher-pupil relationship, but that did not last very long. Luke had started making comments about more than just her form but he had begun to comment on her appearance as well, first her clothes, then her hair, her face, and body. Looking back on those times, Annabeth realized how much of a creep he was, but at such a young age, all she wanted was to impress him.  
So their relationship progressed. She didn’t love to think about it much as she grew older, seeing how he took advantage of her. She had become so infatuated with him that her life revolved around him, despite the fact that he would only allow for them to be seen together while training. This didn’t really matter to her, since that’s how she had spent most of her time anyways.  
That year she may have been the youngest pentathlete, but there was another athlete just a month younger than her who was stealing the spotlight that might’ve been hers in a different timeline.

That athlete’s name was Percy Jackson, a swimmer from New York who had somehow cruised his way through the Olympic trials despite never having a private trainer like so many of the greats did. He had only been through his various schools’ swimming programs, transferring almost every year meaning he didn’t even have a consistent coach to rely on. America fell in love with the boy’s story, which he wasn’t shy to share, he had come from a background of abuse from his stepfather after his biological father had died in a boating accident before he was born. Percy had gotten into swimming at his mother’s suggestion to keep him out of the house and outside the reach of his stepfather.

The stepfather had mysteriously disappeared a few years before the games, and Percy notes in many interviews how much of a relief it was on him and his mother, who finally went to school for what she loved, fell in love with a new man, bringing them to the small happy family they were at the time. Percy finally settled into swimming at the same school two years in a row and his skills grew exponentially under the coach at Goode High, who also encouraged him to participate in the Olympic trials, since he was the same age as Michael Phelps in his first games.

Annabeth didn’t pay much attention to him that year because she was so focused on Luke but she knew the basics since he was the talk of the town that first year. People were arguing that he had a chance of beating the Michael Phelps in his prime. Why couldn’t they have said that she had a chance to win, or at least medal? They usually argued that her fencing and shooting weren’t strong enough to make up for her lost points in swimming, but she thought otherwise.

Luke agreed with her, and encouraged her to keep up with her training, keep up with him. Ignore that swimmer who was stealing her spotlight as the youngest athlete to qualify.

He was right that Percy was taking the limelight from her, he was competing against arguably one of the best Olympians of all time, and people thought a 15-year-old stood a chance against Phelps in his prime? But they didn’t think she stood a chance? Luke reminded her how hard she had been working for this and how she deserved to be recognized just as much if not more than Percy. Sure he shared his dark past with the world, but just because she kept her secrets close to herself didn't mean she didn't come from just as dark a background.

She deserved to be recognized and she would do anything it took to become a bigger name than Percy Jackson. He had numerous chances to win, a potential medal from each of his races, eight of which he would be competing head to head with Phelps, and if he won any of those he would definitely rise to stardom. She had a possibility to get one medal from her five drastically different events but she was going to get gold.

Through Luke's inspiration she started to hate on this boy she had never even met. Or at least she hadn't until they moved into the village at the start of the games.

The Olympic village was essentially a huge dorm system for all of the athletes competing in the games. Annabeth was used to dorms despite being only 15, she had been going to private schools from a trust fund that her parents left her in order to do anything but stay in their home. 

Her mother and father met in their doctorate program at Harvard but were never married, and her mother had left her father soon after Annabeth was born. He quickly moved away from his heartbreak and moved to Virginia where he found a new woman, who he actually loved and he got married to her and they had two perfect twin boys. Meaning Annabeth was just a reminder of his mistakes and his past. Her step mother made sure to let Annabeth feel like she wasn't her real daughter, so Annabeth saved everyone the effort and had enrolled in her first boarding school in Manhattan at the age of seven and never looked back. 

At that school she had met Thalia Grace, twelve at the time Annabeth was seven, and the older girl quickly took Annabeth under her wing. The two were both fiercely competitive both academically and in the Many sports offered by their school. While Annabeth could never really settle down and worked her way to becoming a pentathlete, Thalia had turned her focus towards volleyball, originally indoor but she eventually made her way to beach volleyball after she got especially close to the team captain, Zoë Nightshade. The two started out as practice partners when Thalia was working her way up the team ranks and discovered their chemistry was unmatched as a pair despite their age difference and they formed a beach volleyball duo.  
They had appeared at the 2004 Athens game where they took the silver medal, and they were determined to take home the gold in Beijing.

Thalia had met Luke in the village in Athens where they had become friends, and Thalia had introduced Luke to 11 year old Annabeth in the hopes that he could help her friend achieve her goal of making it to the Olympics. While Luke had helped Annabeth reach her goal, over the years Thalia’s opinion of Luke had turned sour, despite her being the one who originally introduced the pair, and by the time the 2008 games came around the two could hardly stand to be in the same room. This disdain between the two most important people in Annabeth’s life put her into the worst headspace possible in the most important time of her life up to that point. That may have been what caused her path to cross with the young boy stealing her spotlight.


	2. Before the Opening Ceremonies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To reiterate: Luke is trash

Annabeth had found herself in the small pool in the village when she realized that she had lost focus on her worst event after training so much on the laser-run with Luke. She wasn’t surprised to see there were a few athletes at the pool already, some lounging in an attempt to destress and some swimming laps as she set down her things before preparing to dive in.   
“Your form is wrong.” She heard as she pushed off, the words breaking her from her focus and she popped back up to the surface immediately after diving into the cool water.  
“Excuse me?” She asked as she removed her goggles and turned to find the source of the voice, none other than Percy Jackson, the boy who was stealing her thunder.  
“You’re Annabeth Chase right? The pentathlete? My mom loves the pentathlon and was telling me all about you since you’re a pretty girl close to my age competing. She said you mentioned in interviews that swimming is your least favorite of your events and I’m rambling. But you could work on your form.” The boy was just that, a boy, he was nothing compared to the man that Luke was. Percy was all messy hair, slight acne, but to be fair he did have the same build as all Olympic swimmers, tall, broad shoulders and defined muscles, but Luke was all that and more, so Annabeth was not impressed by the boy who stood before her.  
“Oh really? What’s wrong with my form? My coach has never said anything’s wrong with it.” She challenged, leaning on the edge of the pool as the black haired boy sat and dangled his feet in the water. She didn’t mention that she hadn’t met with her coach in a few weeks after all the time she had been spending training with Luke on the land events. She had to admit that she was getting rusty, but she would never admit that to Percy Jackson. Luke, maybe, but not Percy.  
“It would be easier to tell you what’s right about it.” The boy snorted. “It sounds cheesy but it would be easier to just show you.” He motioned for her to get out of the water so he could show her.  
She was hesitant to listen to him so quickly, but he was a swimmer, a prodigy at that, and it was her weakest event of the five, so she decided to give him a chance. She pulled herself out of the water and stood next to him, then raised her arms in a challenge, “What’s next?” Sure he was helping her, but that didn’t mean that she had to enjoy it.

Percy seemed oblivious to her annoyance and moved next to her in order to show her his stance. "You need to move your front leg back more" he noted and pointed to her leg in question as he moved into his mark. She followed his example and he nodded, "And you need to make sure you're getting your body as straight as possible as fast as possible, its all about the resistance. Which I'm sure you already know…"

"Why are you helping me?" Annabeth asked him, finally meeting his green eyes. The color reminded her of the ocean they had flown over in order to make it to Beijing. His eyes were wide and bright, a stark comparison to Luke's harsh blue she was so used to. His face was in a constant scowl like he was angry at the world, which he was. But Percy didn't seem angry. He seemed like he had simply accepted what he had been through had happened, but he was trying to see the best in whats to come.

"'Cause I know what its like being the youngest on the team." Percy let out a breath, "They either don't take you seriously or they think you're out to take their place, no real in between. So nobody ever offers me any help." He said with a slight smile and finally broke their eye contact to look down at the water below them as he paused. "I'm not out to get anybody I'm just here to swim."

"Why not both?" Annabeth challenged him, "What's the point of being here if you're not trying to win?" She couldn't imagine what motive he could possibly have when all she had been thinking about was going for the gold.

"Do you really think I stand a chance against Michael Phelps?" He scoffed and didn't move his gaze from the pool. "He won six golds last year. He's been winning world championships since I was like seven. He's the favorite in literally every race he competes in. I don't know why people think I'm such a big deal. The thing is I think my mom and Rachel are the only two people who actually think I have a chance and everyone else is just waiting for a kid to get beaten by the best."

Annabeth was not expecting this sort of reaction from him. Percy had always seemed so confident in his post-race interviews. She didn't know whoever Rachel was that he mentioned, but she did know what it felt like to be underestimated. "Phelps didn't win any medals in 2000." She commented. She knew there was nothing she could say in order to change his thoughts. She knew that because that's how she felt about herself. "All you need is one bronze and you're already off to a better start than he is." She said before lowering her goggles back down and diving into the water, using the new stance Percy had taught her. 

By the time she had swam across the pool and back, Percy had left, presumably to get back to his room. After all, that night would be opening ceremonies, and there were only a few hours left to get ready.

Annabeth knew that she had time to swim, they were given a uniform to wear to the ceremonies so she wasn't worried about getting ready. What she wasn't expecting was to lose track of time as she swam laps across the pool. She usually hated swimming and couldn't wait to get out, but she had felt at peace for the first time in a while. 

"Annie! We've been looking all over for you!" Thalia's voice broke through Annabeth's concentration and she glanced over at the clock. There was half an hour before they had to leave for opening ceremonies and she had to get back to her room and change before hand. "We thought maybe you'd be at the stables or something the pool was literally the last place we thought you'd be."

Thalia grabbed Annabeth's towel and handed it to her as she hauled herself out of the pool. "Yeah I don't know how I lost track of time I just kept going." She murmured as she wiped herself off and Thalia led her towards their rooms in the village. Annabeth had hoped that she and Thalia would get to room together, but Thalia was rooming with Zoë, which according to Thalia was "A perk to dating your partner."

ISo instead Annabeth was assigned a roommate, another teen, thankfully. Her name was Katie Gardner and she was a tennis player. Annabeth had never met her before they were assigned to be roommates, but she had heard her name thrown about during discussions of the younger athletes coming to the games. 

Katie wasn't in the room by the time Annabeth and Thalia arrived, most likely already making her way down to the transportation that would be taking them to the arena for the ceremonies. "Luke's gonna be so mad he wanted to meet up before the ceremony." Annabeth muttered as she pulled her uniform from where it was hanging on the door. 

Thalia scoffed as she glanced around the room. In the little time they’d been there, Katie had decorated her bare walls with numerous photos of her friends and family back home to make the room a little less lonely, and she even somehow had a couple potted plants sitting by her bed. “Forget about him. How the hell did your roommate get those plants through security at the airport? Isn’t that shit illegal?” 

“She could’ve gotten them once she was already here. I don’t know.” Annabeth said as she quickly changed, “What the hell is your problem with him lately? I wouldn’t be here without him and you’re the one who even introduced us in the first place!” She looked in the mirror. The uniform they were given to wear was pretty cheesy, but it wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever seen. There were simple soft white slacks that weren’t too tight in the summer heat. They also had white button ups under a navy blue blazer which was definitely on the warmer side. She grabbed her blue and red striped tie that she could tie on the way to the arena and the two quickly made their way to the pickup area.

Thalia sighed as if she had expected the question, “Annie-”

“You know I hate when you call me that, I’m not a little kid.” Annabeth interrupted as Zoë ran into them, literally.

“The last bus is leaving in a minute we need to hurry!” She grabbed Thalia’s hand and tugged her along to where the last few athletes were filing onto the large vehicle. Annabeth scanned the heads to see if she could find Luke, who she knew would be mad at her, but he was nowhere to be found. He must’ve been on an earlier bus. 

“I thought you’d never make it.” He said from behind her, making her jump. Annabeth wasn’t a short girl, she was 5’7”, but Luke still towered over her, and he did not look pleased. “I don’t like being stood up.” He said and grabbed her arm, pulling her back from Thalia and Zoë as they moved forward in the line to board.

Annabeth winced as her arm was pulled back into an odd angle before he dropped it when she looked up at him. “I lost track of time, you know I was swimming laps before we were supposed to meet, I-”

“Beth we both know you hate swimming, how am I supposed to believe you?” Luke frowned as he lifted her chin with his finger. “You know I hate when you lie to me.” He shook his head and dropped his hand. “I want you to meet with me in the stables after the opening ceremonies. Show me you actually care about me.” He said then walked up onto the bus, leaving her standing for a few moments.

How did she lose track of time? She did hate swimming. She hated when Luke was mad at her, so she knew she needed to do something to make things up to him. She bit her lip and made her way onto the bus. 

She kept her eyes low until she sat in the row across from Zoë and Thalia, which was kept empty by the two sitting across from each other until Annabeth entered the bus. Thalia looked at her with an expression she couldn't place, and she leaned her head against the window as they made their way to the stadium.


	3. Opening Ceremonies Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth is confused but I still Love her

Knowing that the Opening Ceremonies were four hours long was different than standing through four hours of the opening ceremonies. While it was an out of body experience to stand in a stadium of over 90,000 fans and about 10,000 athletes, Annabeth’s feet hurt. 

The entire city was lit up in various colors in preparation for the entire world to see. There entire stadium was turned into a light show with hundreds, if not thousands of drummers starting it off. The athletes did not see much of the beginning in person, but they watched on screens and could hear the crowd reacting to the synchronized light show put on by the drummers as they began a countdown from 60. Every 10 seconds a new number would appear in the lights until they counted down from 10.

When the countdown finally struck zero, horns struck a symphony and fireworks were lit. Announcers in various languages announced China’s leader and he waved to the crowd, happy his country would be home to an event that unites the world, even if they were being united through competition.

Annabeth was happy that the athletes didn’t have a specific order they needed to gather during the ceremonies, so she stuck with Thalia and Zoë as they watched the screens broadcasting the drummers, now performing in total darkness, with their drum sticks the only source of light.

“Yo I’m glad they have this much music involved, especially drums. Drums always get me hyped up.” Will Solace, an archer commented from beside them. Will was close to Thalia’s age, and Annabeth knew about him through the athletic pipeline. She couldn’t help but let out a laugh as the drummers cleared the stadium almost immediately after Will made his comment, being replaced by dancers who were soaring through the stadium on some kind of rigging system as the olympic rings appeared to float in the air. “Aww man, well it was fun while it lasted.” The archer sighed before working his way through the sea of athletes, presumably to find one of his friends.

“I thought I was young.” Annabeth said as a young girl who couldn’t be older than eight began singing what she assumed was the national anthem of China. But once the girl finished singing, they began the actual Chinese national anthem, so annabeth figured it was just another meaningful Chinese song.

“You are, Annie.” Thalia laughed and hugged Annabeth’s shoulder. “There’s like one kid from the US that’s younger than you. But you made it here, and you’re gonna kick some ass.” A video egan to play with some professional artists creating a classic black and white painting and Annabeth was distracted for a moment. The painting scroll then transformed into the next stage display, an illusion helped by the fantastic light show. Dancer began to turn the stage into a painting of its own.

“Thalia I told you to stop calling me that. You and Luke are the only ones who ever called me that and if you guys aren’t going to talk to each other you can’t call me Annie.” Annabeth snapped and pulled herself out of Thalia’s grasp, taking another step towards the screen. The fact that the performance was so breathtaking helped give Annabeth an excuse to ignore Thalia.

“Annabeth I’m just trying to look out for you!” Her friend began to raise her voice, but caught herself after remembering that they were surrounded by other athletes. Dancers filled the stadium, and the center transformed into waves of chinese characters, which rose and fell into different chinese words and patterns. 

Thalia stepped closer to Annabeth and lowered her voice “Please, can we talk after the ceremonies? I’ll explain everything to you. Not here though. Not around this many people.” Thalia stepped in front of Annabeth to meet her eyes. 

No matter how many times Annabeth looked Thalia in the eyes, she never got used to how startlingly blue they were. She cold tell that her friend was being sincere and she sighed in agreement. “Fine-” She started, then remembered her arrangements with Luke and bactracked, “Uh, actually, what about tomorrow? This is supposed to be long and I’m probably going to want to just go to bed.” She said as puppeteers took center stage, surrounded by dancers in all yellow. 

She could see the disappointment in Thalia’s eyes before her friend looked away. “Fine. Let’s keep watching then.” Thalia said, and a ribbon dancer began to perform on top of the giant painting that was created by the dancers in the beginning of the ceremony. Said giant painting was being carried by dozens of men dressed in pointy hats, but Annabeth didn’t do as much research as she would have liked into Chinese culture before arriving, so she wasn’t sure of the exact significance. 

Soon the ribbon dancer was replaced by dozens of dancers with giant oars they used to create patterns, as well as photos when they were positioned in the correct fashion. Their performance concluded and the lights fell as they formed a giant boat shape, and a lone performer took the stage, which was once again the giant painting.

The lights returned and hundreds of dancers had appeared, along with a singer, an instrumentalist, and a performer mimicking painting the stage. “How long do you think until we go out?” Annabeth asked Thalia, knowing she sounded every bit like the 15-year-old child she was, and Thalia let out a loud laugh.

“Oh, hon. Athletes aren’t going to start coming out for at least another half hour. And we’re at the end of the damn alphabet. So I’m gonna estimate not for at least three hours.” She patted Annabeth on the head, which she didn’t appreciate, but then again Thalia was like her big sister. She hoped Thalia was over-estimating how long they would be standing around, because as beautiful as the ceremony was, she really felt like she could use a long night’s rest, but she had no idea how late Luke would want to stay out. It would likely be long since she had disappointed him earlier.

"Well isn't it alphabetical according to the Chinese Alphabet?" Annabeth asked, scanning the people around her. There were almost 600 athletes from the United States competing, so she didn't expect to recognize most of them. 

"Sure Annie but look how far back we are. We're gonna be waiting for a while." Thalia laughed and gave her younger friend a pat on the head. Annabeth rolled her eyes at the nickname then her eyes fell upon a head of messy black hair.

He was standing alone, which she wasn't surprised by. Most swimmers didn't come to the opening ceremonies in order to rest their legs since their qualification heats were some of the first events, and started the day after the ceremony. He was intently focused on one of the screens allowing the athletes to view the performance that was winding down as the first countries were making their way towards the entrance of the arena to be called. 

Once Greece was called as the first country Percy looked up from the screen and looked around, as there wasn't much going on besides different countries walking out for the next few hours. His eyes eventually fell on Annabeth, and he smiled and sent her a small wave before starting his way over to her.

"It's good to see a friendly face around here. All the swimmers are in the village so I don't really know anyone."

This confused Annabeth, "What do you mean? You're like all everyone's been talking about, being the youngest and all." She looked back at Thalia who was lost in conversation with Zoë.

"Ya know, everyone thinks that. But everyone just knows of me. I barely know anyone. And most people don't even know me, they just think they do." Percy laughed and ran his fingers through his already messy hair, "Nobody's taken the time to get to know me."

Annabeth met his eyes, she couldn't help but feel bad for Percy. While she felt like most plder athletes didn't take the time to get to know her, she at least had Luke, and Thalia, and Zoë by association. "Well then what's there to know?" She challenged, "For starters, why are you here when all the other swimmers are resting their legs?"

Percy shrugged, "I mean, first of all that ceremony was insane and I wish we could've been in the stadium for it. But also, my mom would kill me if I didn't go." He smiled when he mentioned his mother, and Annabeth recalled the interviews where Percy had discussed his family past. 

"So you really are a mommy's boy, huh? That's not just a show to win over the hearts of Americans everywhere?" She finally matched his smile. It was funny, it seemed easier to smile around Percy, someone she was so convinced that she should hate for stealing her spotlight, that she's actually known for less than a day, than it was around Luke, someone who she loves. Someone who's been there for her through all the hard times she's had in the past four years.

Percy rolled his eyes, "Its easy being a momma's boy when A. Your mom is all you have, and B. When your mom is a very cool mom, even if she wasn't all you have." He shook his head, "And don't feel bad for me. I like it just me and my mom, I've had a pretty great life ever since my step-dad left. She cares so much and I know that’s a lot more than people have, so I really hate when people try to give me pity over it.”

Annabeth couldn’t help but scoff, “I don’t think I have any pity to go around when it comes to families. My mom and dad were never married, they got their doctorates together at Harvard, my mom had me and essentially plopped me on my dad’s doorstep then left. My dad tried to give me back but couldn’t even find her so he was stuck with me. He eventually found a new lady he actually cares about and they had my twin brothers Bobby and Matthew, who they actually love, and my step mom always made it clear to me that I wasn’t actually her daughter. So I left when I was seven. I’ve been in boarding schools ever since, and Thalia’s the closest thing to family I have.” Annabeth pointed back at her friend, only now realizing how intimidating she may seem to a stranger. Jet black hair, heavy eyeliner and mascara, at least a dozen piercings made their way up her ears. It definitely didn’t help that she just so happened to be staring the two down, “She’s really protective, so don’t take the glare seriously, she’s really the most caring person I know.”

She could tell Percy didn’t take her warning to heart by his nervous laugh that escaped his throat as he took in Thalia’s appearance at the same time she just so happened to be cracking her knuckles, her girlfriend used to and laughing at her antics. “Hah, yeah, please remind me not to fuck with you so I can avoid Thalia’s bad side.” He looked back at Annabeth, “But like I know apologizing about your family isn’t going to help. But family isn’t who you’re related to, necessarily, it’s who you choose to surround yourself with. And it seems like you’re off to a pretty great start with someone who cares about you so much.”

Annabeth just nodded, she had been telling herself the same thing for years, because it was her life. But who was he to tell her this when he has a perfectly loving mother at home? She knew she could call Thalia family because she knew what it was like with an absent father and an addict mother, Luke’s mom was in and out of mental institutions and his dad hit the road just late enough that Luke could remember his smile. They really understood her, how could she think that Percy did? How could she have doubted Luke earlier in the day? How did she think she could relate to Percy at all, when he could go home to his mother’s embrace, but all she had was the two of them? “Uh, yeah. Sure,” She stumbled through the partial sentence, “They’re my family. I ought to get back to them anyways, uh, see you around Percy.” 

She quickly stepped away from him and back towards Thalia, not before catching the eye of none other than Luke. He must have seen her talking to Percy, who was easy to spot thanks to his swimmer’s height, and his dark messy hair that seemed to be his trademark.

Annabeth’s eyes flickered between Thalia and Luke, who raised his eyebrow at her and jerked his head slightly before turning and walking away, meaning he wanted her to follow. She looked back to Thalia for a moment, who shook her head at her, she must have seen Luke too, but she turned and followed him away from the other athletes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still trying to figure out how AO3 works


	4. Opening Ceremonies Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to clarify that I am not trying to romanticize Annabeth's relationship with Luke this is a very toxic and not okay relationship but I am trying to show how confusing it can be to be a girl manipulated by an older guy.

“You said after the ceremony Luke I didn’t do anything wrong.” Annabeth started, but paused when he turned to look at her. His blue eyes were dark with anger, but before he opened his mouth Annabeth felt a tug on her arm.

“Luke, no. Come with me. Annabeth, stay with Zoë.” Thalia broke between the two athletes, forming a barrier between them. Annabeth still wasn’t sure what Thalia’s problem with Luke was, Annabeth had been talking to Percy who was a bad influence, as Luke had previously pointed out. 

Zoë wrapped a protective arm around her and coaxed her back to where they had been standing before Luke had led her away. Annabeth wasn’t as close to Zoë as she was to Thalia, but over the years they had been dating, Annabeth had begun to see Zoë as a sisterly figure as well. However, all the sisters Annabeth knew tended to fight, “Zoë let go of me why are you being like this?”

Zoë did finally let go of her, but Annabeth noticed she was careful to stand in her way if she tried to make a move back to Luke and Thalia, who were out of sight by now. The brunette sighed and pinched her nose, which Annabeth had seen her step mother do numerous times before yelling at her back before she had moved out, so she took a step back from Zoë, preparing for the worst. “Annabeth, Thalia is looking out for you I promise. You know how protective she is of the people she loves, but I am really not the one to be going in depth about this kind of stuff, and especially not here.” She lowered her hand from her face and reached out for Annabeth’s arm, and she let her, despite the reaction to flinch away.

“Everyone always is telling me they want what’s best for me or that they’re looking out for me but they never actually tell me what they mean!” Annabeth couldn’t help but stomp her foot, once again acting like the child she swore she wasn’t, “Just because you guys are older than me doesn’t mean that you know what’s best for me. You can’t just tell me how to live my life!”

“I’m not trying to. And neither is Thalia. But like I said this is not the place for this. And I think we may have to start walking out soon, they’re getting closer to us in the alphabet. You don’t want the whole world watching you wine on live TV, do you?” She nudged her, and Annabeth couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She was right, after all.

“Do you promise you guys will tell me what’s up after the ceremonies?” She asked Zoë, hopeful.

“It’s not my place to promise anything about this, but I will talk to Thalia. I know she wants this over as much as you do.” Zoë squeezed Annabeth’s shoulder, and that would have to do for now. 

Annabeth looked around at the other athletes, many of whom seemed to be getting antsy. Her eyes fell on a head of black, messy hair that was quickly becoming more and more familiar, despite her best efforts. Percy caught her eye and she could see his face immediately drop and he moved towards her. She didn’t really need another person feeling bad for her right now, not with Zoë watching her like a hawk. But there was nowhere else she could go.

“Annabeth I’m sorry for what I said earlier, I clearly hit a sore spot, and you disappeared before I could apologize and I couldn’t find you until now and you’re really the only person here who has even treated me like a normal human being so like I really hope you can forgive me for what I said and now I’m just rambling so feel free to stop me.” Percy gushed once he had made his way to her.

Annabeth was getting to the point where there was just so much going on in her head she could hardly even remember why she was upset with him even though it was only maybe 20 minutes ago she had run away from him in the first place.

She was so exhausted, and he was looking at her as an equal, not like a little sister how Thalia saw her or the liability Luke saw her as. Wordlessly, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Percy in a hug. She barely knew him but he was being nice to her and that was enough for now. “I overreacted. I’ve been really stressed lately, So i’m sorry too.” She said quickly before stepping back, hoping the hug wasn’t too weird.

Percy had barely reacted until she had moved back to a few feet away from him. “I- uh, why are you apologizing?” His eyebrows were knit together and his arms were still spread out from after their brief hug, as if he was still processing the past 30 seconds. He slowly lowered his arms as a volunteer came around warning the athletes there were now only a few minutes before they were to start heading into the stadium. “Is everything ok? What happened to your friend- sister- person who was here before?” 

“Uh, I don’t think we need to worry about it right now we should worry about following everyone.” Annabeth avoided the subject. She was not going to start talking about Luke with Percy, even if he was the only person here not treating her like a child. Nobody seemed to understand what he had done for her over the years, she wouldn’t be here without him.

“Yeah, okay.. We still have a few minutes and then we just need to walk. In a big group. What’s there to mess up? But.. Actually I would be the one to mess things up.” He laughed at himself, “Fine let’s change the subject… Do you like… cheese?” He grinned as if he had just told the funniest joke in the world, and Annabeth was lucky that Thalia had shown her one of the greatest movies of all time, which allowed her to understand the reference.

“Why, yes I do, my favorite’s gouda.” She replied with a giggle. “I hope you were referencing she’s the man because if not, cheese might just be the dumbest conversation topic I have ever heard of.”

“It got you laughing did it not?” Percy held his chin high and tried his best to suppress his smile in an attempt to look serious. “And how dare you imply that I not be referencing arguably the greatest sport movie known to man. It made me wish I had a twin sister so we could trade places in school and switch sports… Although thinking about it now I’m not so sure a girl would have an easy time pretending to be a male swimmer…” He shook his head and Annabeth couldn’ hold back her smile. 

“Either that or an identical twin to pull a parent trap.” She added, “I would imagine some crazy life for my mom to be living that I would get to experience. I don’t really know much about her besides the history thing so I would imagine going to ancient civilizations with her like the pyramids in Egypt or the Greek or Roman ruins.” 

“No way I used to imagine a parent trap with my dad too, my mom told me he was a sailor and got lost at sea so I would imagine sailing with him and going on adventures together.”

The two continued discussing their childhood fantasies as they were finally instructed to start making their way into the stadium. Annabeth quickly glanced around, searching for Thalia as they all started walking but she didn’t find anything.

It had become easy to drown out the muted sound of the crowd while waiting behind the scenes but as they approached the doorway the sound level increased until the cheering was nearly deafening. The crowd was full of flashing lights and cheering people from all over the world, somewhere in the crowds President Bush himself was cheering on the athletes representing the country he once ran. There were so many cameras Annabeth didn’t know where to look, so she just sorta waved and looked around everywhere, trying to take in as much as she could. 

There were dancers, almost like high school cheerleaders that lined the path that they walked, which was a nearly complete lap around the stadium before squeezing into the middle with the athletes from all the other countries. 

At one point in their slow lap, Percy had spotted a camera that was pointing at them specifically and pulled her close with an arm around her shoulder as he aggressively waved with his free hand. “Hi mom!” He called out, which Annabeth doubted the camera could actually hear, so she just laughed and waved at the camera.

“Better hope your mom can read lips.” She teased him once the camera man switched his focus to some other athletes.

“Oh god, I hope that actually airs because she will absolutely lose her mind if she sees it. She would literally print out a screen cap if it airs.” He was still giddy with excitement, “You’d think she’d get over it, but she still gets excited at every interview I do even though I’ve lost count by now. She’s like a hoarder but specifically with sentimental things. Like she probably still has my baby teeth in a drawer somewhere.”

“She seems like a pretty cool mom though.” Annabeth said, meaning it. When she was younger, she couldn’t help herself from feeling jealous of people who had normal, caring parents, but Thalia had helped her slowly learn to get over it. She was glad that he had someone that truly cared about him, everyone deserves that.

“Oh Annie there you are! Oh, what’s this?” Thalia somehow found her way back to the group once the athletes were gathered in the middle of the arena, waiting for all the other countries to finish filing in before the end of the ceremony. She quickly glanced between Annabeth and Percy with a grin on her face, and Annabeth flushed as she noticed that Percy had never removed his arm from around her shoulders from earlier. She had been so distracted by their conversation that she hadn’t even noticed, but she quickly took a step away from him once Thalia brought it to her attention.

“We figured us youngin’s gotta stick together.” Percy laughed, “I’m Percy, by the way, Annabeth mentioned your name’s Thalia but we never actually got to meet.” The boy stuck his hand out to Thalia, which she happily shook.

“Nice to meet ya, Percy. I think everyone here knows your name with all the buzz about how you’re gonna beat Michael Phelps.” Thalia had her arm around Zoë, who Annabeth almost forgot about while so caught up with Percy.

“Please don’t remind me. I hardly stand a chance against him, but I think I may be able to get a spot on the relay with him if I do well enough in the preliminary heats so who knows maybe I have a shot at a medal.”

Thalia rolled her eyes at this, “Don’t sell yourself short kid. Even if you don’t medal, you’re like one of the youngest athletes the U.S. has this year, and you’ll be able to keep coming back for years and years.” She pulled Zoë in closer by snaking her arm around her shoulders, “Zoë and I? Ya know what… I was gonna say something about how we only have a few years left but that’s a lie. We’ve only got a few years on you guys so we’re gonna be sticking around for a while too. Guess you’re stuck with us like Annabeth! Although if you two ever stop being friends we will have to kill you, for hurting our here Annie.” Thalia barked a laugh andZoë shook her head and pinched her nose, clearly used to but not necessarily approving of Thalia’s antics.

Percy let out a laugh of his own, “Well I wouldn’t plan on ruining seemingly the first and only friendship I’ve made here so far, if anyone’s ending anything, it’s Annabeth’s choice.”

She shouldn’t read so far into things with someone she had met so recently, but Percy was giving Annabeth more say in their friendship than she had with even her parents, who never bothered to stick around. Here Percy was, within mere days of meeting already stating his intentions to stick around.

This relationship with Percy was new, but Annabeth knew that it would either end very well, or very very poorly. She hoped for the former.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not beta-read at all and I am very much not a writer but I have a very specific idea of how I want an Olympics fic to go so I am trying to write it for myself. Let me know if you have any constructive criticism or kind words :) (or if you wanna beta for me :) )


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